LOS ANGELES, May 14, 2014 /PRNewswire/ — ICON Aircraft has announced that it will relocate to the City of Vacaville in Northern California, located approximately fifty miles northeast of San Francisco. Beginning in the first quarter of 2015, the company will begin operating in a 140,000-square-foot facility adjacent to the Vacaville airport, also known as the Nut Tree Airport. ICON intends to consolidate aircraft manufacturing, sales, training, service, and corporate headquarters at the new location. The move follows an extensive nationwide search for a site that would enable ICON to co-locate all divisions. The move stands to create hundreds, and eventually thousands, of advanced manufacturing-related jobs, while providing economic impact on the region that has been independently estimated to exceed $350 million.

“The selection of Vacaville as ICON’s new home is a major milestone for the company and a significant economic win for the residents of the region,” said ICON CEO and Founder Kirk Hawkins. “The move will play a major role in achieving our goal to not only deliver the best consumer Light Sport Aircraft in the world, but also a comprehensive flight training and operating experience that our customers and employees will absolutely love. The site we have chosen has a rare combination of key elements that makes it an ideal fit for ICON at this next stage of growth. The decision to stay in California and relocate to Vacaville, located in Solano County, would not have happened without the proactive, tireless effort of the airport officials, City of Vacaville, Solano County, and the Governor’s GO-Biz office over the last several years. This has been an impressive demonstration of local, regional, and state cooperation that ultimately made it possible for ICON to remain in California.”

“To say we’re pleased with ICON’s selection of Vacaville would be an understatement,” said Vacaville Mayor Steve Hardy. “We have much to offer ICON, as well as other businesses, and this seems like such a natural fit to us. We look forward to a long, mutually beneficial relationship with this world-class operation.”

Supervisor John Vasquez added, “ICON will be the needed catalyst to ensure the long-term success of the Nut Tree Airport. Solano County, the City of Vacaville, as well as the North Bay region will benefit from this project. I am thrilled ICON is coming.”

ICON chose the site in Vacaville because of the business-friendly local government, accessibility to a vibrant, talented labor pool, existing facilities adjacent to the airport, and outstanding weather and local conditions for year-round flight operations and training. The site also allows easy access to compelling recreation destinations, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Wine Country, and Sacramento for visiting customers as well as employees. Finally, the San Francisco Bay Area represents a strong cultural fit: ICON was founded in Silicon Valley, and the company culture draws heavily on the entrepreneurial drive embodied by the area.

ICON’s move also stands to have a significant positive economic impact on the region, according to an independent study. The study concluded that the move would directly and indirectly create hundreds, and eventually thousands, of jobs in advanced manufacturing as well as many other disciplines. The annual economic impact on Vacaville and Solano County is estimated to exceed $350 million through wages paid, local purchases made by ICON, and increases in employee and visitor spending, as well as sales and property tax revenues to the city and county once the company is at full production rates.

ICON will continue to manufacture production aircraft at its existing facility in Southern California before transitioning to the facility in Vacaville. The first customer aircraft is scheduled to be completed in early 2015.

ABOUT ICON AIRCRAFT:
ICON Aircraft is a consumer sport plane manufacturer founded in response to the new sport flying category created by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in 2004. ICON’s first plane is the A5, an amphibious sport aircraft that fuses outstanding aeronautical engineering with world-class product design. It has won some of the world’s most prestigious design awards and has inspired a global following. The company has received more than 1050 order deposits and has started manufacturing components of the first production aircraft. ICON Aircraft’s facilities are in Southern California, a hotbed for automotive design and aerospace engineering.

ABOUT FAA LIGHT SPORT AIRCRAFT & SPORT PILOT CLASSIFICATIONS:
In 2004, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) created a new classification of easy-to-fly and affordable two-person airplanes called Light Sport Aircraft. These airplanes enable a new classification of Sport Pilots to fly in lower altitude, uncongested airspace, during the daytime, and in good weather. The Sport Pilot License focuses on the fundamentals of flying and requires a minimum of 20 hours of in-flight training, undercutting the time and cost of a traditional Private Pilot License by about 50%. The Experimental Aircraft Association (EAA) has described the new rules as “the biggest change in aviation in 50 years.”

I’ll tell you, the Mitsubishi Carisma didn’t exactly slay the European market when it went on sale a decade and a half ago. Simply, it wasn’t popular. Then a regional car maker in China tried to take the design from Mitsu and make a version to sell to the Chinese in 2005. It wasn’t popular there neither, even at a price of just $10,000. It, as they say, “lacked quality to make a mark” in the Chinese market. O.K. then.

Should California and the feds give you tax credits to buy this thing if all Coda Automotive is going to do is raise the price sky high?

What a POS this thing is. Just look at it. In some ways better, and in some ways worse than your sister’s ’94 Honda Civic:

Now, they’re going to have a showroom in the bay area soon and they’re going to let you take a test drive starting next month. Fine, test drive the thing, I don’t care. But don’t give them a deposit, don’t encourage them.

All right, what about the all-electric Nissan LEAF, the Coda Sedan’s arch-rival? The LEAF is better and cheaper.

Here’s what an overly-excited CODA fan was saying about the LEAF last year:

Why does the CODA cost so much more than the Chinese design it’s based upon?

Here’s another question:

How on Earth can people call the CODA an American car if the bulk of it, the glider (basically the entire car except for the battery/transmission) is made in one factory in China and the giant battery is made in another factory in China? What’s that, you wait for the boats to arrive in L.A. County Contra Costa? Solano?, Alameda? (one of them counties anyway) and then slap the battery and various whatnots inside the glider and that’s your “final assembly” in America? I cry foul.

Let’s face it, the Coda Sedan is a Chinese car, whether you like that or not.

Henry “Hank” Paulson – former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, former Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs and special representative of the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue[23]

Mack McLarty – (Thomas “Mack” McLarty) Former Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton, President of McLarty Associates and McLarty Companies, a transportation business based in Little Rock, Arkansas[23]

Dr. Michael Wang – Manager of the Systems Assessment Section of the Center for Transportation Research at Argonne Labs, serves as a senior advisor to the Chinese government on new vehicle technology and alternative energy production

Henry “Hank” Paulson – former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, former Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs and special representative of the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue

Thomas F. Steyer – Managing Director of Hellman & Friedman, a San Francisco private equity firm; Founder, Co-Managing Partner and Chief Investment Officer of Farallon Capital; member of the Board of Trustees of Stanford University

Woo C. Lee – Head of Asia for the advisory firm JL Thornton & Company, formerly a U.S. diplomat at American embassies in China, Japan, Australia and Southeast Asia

Why on earth are we subsidizing the totally crummy CODA Automotive electric car company? It baffles me. What makes it a good company, what makes it worthy? Nothing.

Anyway, here’s the latest, as expected, the first recall notice has come early, before CODA even delivered 100 cars worldwide.

Here’s their “Statement” about the matter:

“CODA Automotive is committed to safety and has voluntarily recalled*78 of its 2012 CODA model year vehicles within the VIN range of 53G1U4A48CB000026 to 53G1U4A48CB000260. The recall campaign was issued because of the potential that the side curtain airbags in certain vehicles may not deploy as intended due to an improper installation. Certain 2012 model year CODA vehicles may have this condition. There are no known injuries related to this recent discovery. CODA Automotive holds itself to the highest safety standards and continually strives to offer the most reliable product for its consumers.”

Now, I’ll ask you, how many tens of thousands of these vehicles were supposed to have been sold by now? Well, I’ll answer you: SEVERAL! And yet this recall notice shows just how unpopular this product is, even though I can think of at least four huge subsidies the government grants to its owners.

Oh, but what’s this, it’s a non-crappy electric car what’s cheaper than anything from Coda. It’s a Nissan Leaf, which the Coda people have been criticizing for years. Oh well. Anyway, adorable, non?

BTW, 35,000 LEAFs have been sold so far, worldwide.

So, CODA, why don’t you take your assets and try to give them to the govmint to make up for all that you have cost us?

Solyndra shut itself down, so can you!

*This recall is a nothingburger, really. I mean, my giant Toyota doesn’t have side-curtain airbags and nobody’s recalling it, right? The recall notice is important because it gives us a clue to CODA’s abysmal sales….

“The company even brought its chief executive from China. Coda hired Philip Murtaugh in 2011, a former top executive at the Chinese operations of General Motors and Chrysler. At the 2011 Los Angeles auto show, Mr. Murtaugh expressed concern over the reception for the car’s styling in the American market. First produced nearly about a decade ago, it gives the impression of a knockoff copy of a Y2K Nissan Sentra or Honda Civic. “The vehicle was chosen three years ago,” he told me. “I came in nine months ago. We couldn’t change it.”

And then there’s this, the primary selling feature in some of the Coda ads, the large trunk:

“Yes, the trunk is cavernous, but I would gladly give up three inches of trunk depth for more legroom in the back seat.”

(The reason why the trunk is so big is that the Coda Sedan is actually a two-decade-old Mitsubishi Carisma designed for the European market, which, at the time, was in need of a little car with a big-ass trunk. Things didn’t work out, so the factory was shipped to China. I’m srsly.)

OK. Moving on.

To this:

“…difficult to accept the shortcomings of the Coda at its current price, despite its ability to grant 100 miles on a single charge.”

I’ve been telling you about this venture, this unholy alliance of Goldman Sachs execs (the people who brought us the failed WebVan, srsly, the same exact people), assorted federal government hangers-on (bureaucrats who know nothing about cars, electricity, or batteries or whatever), the People’s Republic of China, and other ne’er-do wells, for years now.

And then when the car comes out and its time for the Big Review from the sainted NYT (which had been pretty positive on this issue of this piece of junk), Coda Automotive gets a thumbs down.

Oh well.

That’s not much to show considering all the government subsidies this company is getting.

(And, mind you, this is after they lowered the MSRP down from the originally-planned $45,000(!), as I and host of others (the so-called haters) have been suggesting for a good long time.)

But at least twenty people in Benicia have jobs at the final assembly plant what are paying In-and-Out level wages….

1. OK, has the Wikipedia entry been scrubbed of any negative information? You, Gentle Reader, make the call. (The context is that the battery capacity and range claims made these past months and years aren’t coming true but there’s no mention of these things in Wiki, oh well. Wiki’s good for Coda though, cause their people can just pop on in and change things to erase history.)

3. But now come the long-promised “green jobs” to the North Bay region of the Bay Area. What was the promise, that there’d be 50 to start and 200 soon thereafter? Well, take a look at the help wanted pages, below. A couple-dozen people slapping a direct-from-China battery into a direct-from-China car does not an American car factory make, right people?

Anywho, Gentle Reader, if you want to get up to speed on the crappiest, broken-promisest electric car company in the world, click here and keep reading.

Oh, but what’s this, it’s a non-crappy electric car what’s cheaper than anything from Coda. It’s a Nissan Leaf, which the Coda people have been criticizing for years. Oh well. Anyway, adorable, non?

A full-time position is available, with immediate effect, for a Production Manager.

ABOUT CODA AUTOMOTIVE: Headquartered in Los Angeles, California, CODA Holdings is a leading developer of advanced Lithium-ion power battery systems comprised of three key divisions: CODA Automotive, CODA EV Propulsion Systems and CODA Energy. Together with its JV partners, CODA is working to reduce dependence on oil and leading the way to a cleaner future through its electric vehicles and stationary energy storage products. With segment leading range, the CODA vehicle is a zero emission four-door, five-passenger sedan with a full-size trunk that is designed to meet American drivers’ daily transportation needs. For more information on the CODA, visit www.codaautomotive.com.

JOB DESCRIPTION: The Production Manager will be located in Benicia, CA. and will manage the final assembly process. The position will be responsible for managing a dynamic repair process that in NOT paced by a conveyor line.

RESPONSIBILITIES: • Inventory control – Manage & replenish all planned components and supporting repair parts • Develop Process Sheets for Assembly Processes and Repair processes • Communicate and elevate quality issues to China Assembly, Engineering, Supply Chain and the field service organizations • React quickly to Field Service Customer issues and institute immediate countermeasures • Oversee the Contract Assembler Financial invoices and verify correct charges • Proactively work with the Contract Assembler to continuously improve quality, velocity of units through the process and reduce the total costs • Supervise 2 Salary employees and indirectly manage 20 contract assemblers • Manage Vehicle inventory and the process flow • Contribute, Lead and instigate team problem solving at all levels • Constant training for all team members to ensure assembly and repair proficiency Challenge Contract assembly company for continuous improvement in Quality, Through-put and Cost reduction.

Kindly respect our recruitment process and do not use any other method to apply. Thank you in advance for your attention to this important detail. Only qualified candidates will be contacted for preliminary interviews.

The policy and practice of CODA Automotive require that entry into employment and progression within employment will be determined only by personal merit and the application of criteria which are related to the duties of each particular job. Subject to statutory provisions, no applicant or member of staff will be treated less favorably than another because of his or her gender, marital or civil partnership status, sexual orientation, religion or belief, racial group, age or disability. In all cases, ability to perform the job will be the primary consideration.

TO ALL RECRUITMENT AGENCIES: CODA Automotive does not accept agency resumes. Please do not forward resumes to our jobs alias, CODA Automotive employees, or any other company location. CODA Automotive is not responsible for any fees related to unsolicited resumes.

Company Description

Coda Automotive is a manufacturer and distributor of all-electric, zero-emissions cars and battery transportation systems. Formed under the stewardship of entrepreneur Miles Rubin (known for his marketing and sales of neighborhood electric fleet vehicles under the Miles Electric Vehicles brand) in 2009, Coda engineers, brands, markets and distributes electric vehicles. The company’s manufacturing partnership strategy allows Coda to avoid the traditionally capital-intensive nature of the automobile business. Coda Automotive’s first vehicle, highway commuter sedan, is now being delivered to California consumers.”

The writer of this article seems to have learned about the crappy CODA company solely from one press conference put on by said crappy CODA company. Is that how journalists roll these days?

Off we go:

“The latest entrant in California’s increasingly crowded market for electric cars is a small, unassuming sedan that rolled off an assembly line in Benicia on Monday morning.”

YEAH, I’SPOSE. OF COURSE “UNASSUMING” IS CODE TELLING US THE CODA SEDAN IS A POS, WHICH IT IS. BUT “ASSEMBLY LINE?” SORRY, NO. IF YOU WANT TO CALL IT A “FINAL ASSEMBLY” LINE, WELL, THAT MIGHT BE O.K., BUT THE REAL ASSEMBLY LINE FOR THE CODA SEDAN IS IN CHINA. YOU SEE, ACTUAL ASSEMBLY LINES HAVE STUFF INSIDE OF THEM. YOU CAN’T CALL AN UNSKILLED WORKER FROM BENICIA PUTTING A CHINESE BATTERY INTO A CHINESE CAR “ASSEMBLY.” SORRY. MINUS ONE FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE.

THIS AMPARTS BUILDING IN THE NORTH BAY IS EXACTLY WHAT AN ASSEMBLY LINE _DOESN’T_ LOOK LIKE:

The Coda sedan, the first car from a Southern California startup, seats five, can drive up to 125 miles on a charge and has taken two years longer to reach the market than its makers initially planned.

UH, THE EPA SAYS 88 MILES FOR THE RANGE. SORRY. MINUS TWO FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. WHAT JOURNALIST WOULD PREFER TO USE A MADE-UP, INFLATED RANGE NUMBER FROM A SACK OF SHIT EX GOLDMAN SACHS EXECUTIVE (WHO MADE HOW MANY HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS FROM BS INVESTMENTS SUCH AS WEBVAN AND SUCH?) OVER THE FRESH NEWS COMING OUT OF THE EPA?

Designed in Southern California, the Coda sedan is largely built in China, with final assembly taking place in Benicia.

NOW YOU’RE ON THE TROLLEY! FINALLY WE AGREE ON SOMETHING. EXCEPT THIS CAR WAS DESIGNED IN EUROPE ABOUT TWO DECADES AGO, AND IN CHINA MORE RECENTLY.

The engine comes from a company in Colorado.

THE “ENGINE?” UH, CODA SEDANS DON’T ACTUALLY HAVE ENGINES. THAT’S KIND OF THE POINT. IF YOU MEAN “MOTOR,” THEN SAY MOTOR. MINUS THREE FOR THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE.

“You can pretty much count on a good, honest 90 to 110 miles, depending on the way you drive,” O’Dell said.

GOOD? HONEST? THERE’S NOTHING GOOD OR HONEST ABOUT CODA.

“There’s nothing wrong with the car. It’s just that considering the cars in the market today, there’s nothing exciting about it.”

NO, IT’S A BIG POS. CHECK OUT THE COMMENTS HERE. PEOPLE ARE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHY ADVERTISED BATTERY CAPACITY WENT DOWN WITHOUT CODA MENTIONING ANYTHING ABOUT IT. PEOPLE ARE WONDERING WHY THE CODA SEDAN IS SO INEFFICIENT, SO POORLY DESIGNED.

It is, however, exciting to Benicia officials. Coda in 2010 reached a deal with a company called Amports, one of North America’s largest auto processors, to perform final assembly for the Coda sedan, and Amports already had a facility in Benicia. The city has easy access to the Port of Oakland, where the partially assembled Coda sedans are shipped from China.

HOW MANY PERSON-YEARS OF JOBS WILL CODA PAY FOR IN BENICIA? 100? 200?

The city, home to one of the Bay Area’s major oil refineries, has been trying to attract green businesses and jobs, said Mayor Elizabeth Patterson. Only 20 people work at the Amports facility now, she said, but that number could expand to 200 by the end of the year.

SURE. AND THE RANGE OF YOUR CODA SEDAN COULD EXPAND TO 200 MILES BY THE END OF THE YEAR. SURE. MAYBE. OH, BUT IRL, CODA WILL NEVER EMPLOY 200 PEOPLE IN BENICIA, CA. SORRY.

“As an unknown brand with an unproven car with a dull design, Coda faces more than its share of challenges in the emerging electric car marketplace. Unfortunately, the low and confusing numbers from the EPA don’t make life any easier for Coda, or for that matter, the entire growing field of EVs.”

Now the people at CODA have been trying to get the cost down from $45k for a while now so the Sedan is coming out with a lower price, but both varieties of Coda’s cars are still more expensive than a thoroughly modern vehicle from a manufacturer what knows what it’s doing like, I don’t know, the Leaf and Nissan?